I’ve written year reviews on my blog for a long time and I’m quite annoyed with myself for skipping it last year, I don’t really know why I did. This year though, it feels like a necessity to have some kind of record of 2020. It was the year that so much happened, but yet so little. When I was looking through photos for this, there were a few months were we really didn’t do much at all. I’m also a bit annoyed with myself for not documenting more of the unusual moments in the past year - like wearing face masks, home schooling etc. I guess at the time it seemed mundane and un-photogenic, but no ..read more

For some reason, I always feel guilt at this time of year about not blogging here more! I can’t believe April was the last time I wrote something. Shameful. I really do want to be here more next year, but I’m pretty sure I say this every December and then things get busy! Anyway, I wanted to pop in to share a selection of independent stores I have been spending my pennies with this year. I would say about 85-90% of the presents I buy at Christmas are from small businesses. If they aren’t, it’s generally because it’s not the kind of thing you can source through a small brand or someone has aske ..read more

It’s been a while since I popped up on here. The first part of this year flew by at breakneck speed; I was so busy working on the new issue of 91 Magazine as well as a picture research project for a book publisher, amongst other things. Then, in the past six weeks life has changed beyond recognition. The global pandemic we are currently living through has forced us to slow down, many of us finding ourselves with less or no work to do, or even if you are still working, you’re probably finding you have a bit more spare time on your hands than usual. Going out for long, leisurely weekend lunches ..read more

Over this past year, environmental issues have become mainstream. Many documentaries have brought the plight of our planet into full view and we’ve really had to take stock about how we live our lives day to day. I can honestly say, not a day goes by when I don’t think about it and it has really made me reevaluate how we are approaching Christmas this year. The more I thought about it, the more I realised that it was not just about being kinder to the planet, although my thoughts about it are mainly underpinned by this, but it was also about society’s need to consume, to want more, to buy buy ..read more

I recently wrote about my plans for our guest bedroom and I’m happy to say it’s now all done! yay! You don’t know how good it feels to have this room sorted as I always cringed when we had people staying as it was just so horrible in there! You can see a few ‘before’ pics here. It’s really tricky to photograph this room as you are shooting towards the window a lot of the time, but hopefully these images give you a bit of an idea of how it looks! Transforming the room was relatively straight-forward and low cost. Firstly, I ..read more

This post has been in the pipeline for a while, as we actually visited Paris at the end of August during the school holidays. We decided to do a stop off in Paris on the way to and from my in-laws in the Dordorgne. We had two nights in the city on the way there and one night on the way back. When I’m searching for Airbnb’s, I swear I literally spend hours on the website before I finally decide on a place. There’s so much to consider - the location, the cost, whether it’s suitable for your families needs, not to mention how stylish it is! ha! When I came across this apartment I really wanted it ..read more

I wrote about our plans for our master bedroom nearly a year ago (unbelievably!), but, believably, we have yet to implement any of these plans! :( I’m still desperate to sort that room out, but it has kinda fallen down the list of priorities right now. However, we have actually made a start on the last spare bedroom, which is actually the one that guests stay in, so even though it is used less it seems more important to get done. It really was a horrible room. We hadn’t done anything to it as you really couldn’t polish thi ..read more

Living more sustainably and more ethically has become increasingly important to me over the past six months while I’ve been absent from this blog. So, I thought I’d stop by and share a few of the small changes I’ve been making to our daily lives. First, here’s a little of what’s been going on in my head… Climate change and the plight of our planet is not a new story by any means, but it seems that in recent months the world is finally taking notice. I know I certainly have and I have felt so much embarrassment and shame ov ..read more

We are only just over two weeks into the new year and I already feel like I am a bit late with this post. It is a constant battle to stay on top of everything, and while I love writing here, I’ve found I’ve had to succumb to prioritisation, and the tasks that help to bring in the cash are what need to come first. The past few months, I’ve even toyed with the idea of closing this blog, but every time I think of it, it makes me feel sad. This is where my creative journey began, I feel like it is almost a part of me. My life, interests and style have evolved over the past 10 years since I start ..read more

When we moved into our house two years ago now, the master bedroom in the loft conversion was in need of immediate attention. We quickly got rid of the dark blue carpet and replaced with white laminate, and we painted over the plum coloured walls with their flower stickers (you can see some before pics in this post) We also had to have a radiator installed as there wasn’t one in there and it was freeeeezing! Other than that, we haven’t had the time to do much else to it, and I’m feeling the itch to get on and make some proper changes. While it is currently a nice, light and airy space, it is f ..read more